- 17-year-old is first skater to land jump in competition
- Quad axel considered hardest of all quadruple jumps
Ilia Malinin made history on Wednesday when the 17-year-old, and the heir apparent to Olympic champion Nathan Chen among American figure skaters, successfully landed the first quad axel in competition.
Malinin pulled off the four-and-a half-revolution jump while winning the lower-level US Classic in Lake Placid, New York, before a small crowd in a mostly empty arena. It nonetheless sent shockwaves through the sport as the final and most difficult of the quadruple jumps had finally been conquered.
